Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine

Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1 November 1864-18 July 1918) was a German princess and the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, best-known for her beauty and her charitable works. She was executed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution in 1918.

Biography
Elisabeth was born on 1 November 1864, the daughter of Ludwig IV of Hesse and Alice of the United Kingdom, and Elisabeth grew up speaking English as her first language, speaking English to her mother and German to her father. In 1878, her sister and mother died from diphtheria, and Elisabeth was heartbroken. However, she would become known as one of the most beautiful women in Europe, and she was highly sought after. In 1884, she married Grand Due Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the son of Aleksandr II of Russia. She was beloved in the Russian Empire for her beauty and for working with the poor; after her husband was assassinated in 1905, she tried to have his killer Ivan Kalyayev pardoned, and she publicly forgave him; he would be executed either way. Elisabeth decided to become a nun after leaving politics, and she worked at a convent that helped the poor. In 1918, however, she was arrested by Vladimir Lenin's Cheka secret police, and she was thrown into a mine in Alapayevsk with several other members of the Russian imperial family. She survived the fall, only to later die of starvation.